Rotary power device

ABSTRACT

A rotary power device embodies a main rotor body which contains a plurality of smaller gear driven rotor elements which revolve with the main rotor body and also revolve relative thereto. Motivating energy for the device is derived in the form of an expanding gas from an external source. A refrigerant type gas or a gaseous product of external combustion may be utilized. Lubricating oil is added to the gas. The device is reversible.

United States Patent 11 1 Campbell 1451 Sept. 4, 1973 ROTARY POWER DEVICE [76] Inventor: Donald K. Campbell, 35601 SW.

l92nd Ave., Homestead, Fla. 33030 [22] Filed: Nov. 26, 1971 21 Appl. No.2 202,101

[52] US. Cl. 418/227 [51] Int. Cl. F0lc 1/00 [58] Field of Search 418/226, 227, 125, 418/142 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,136,066 11/1938 Walters et al 418/227 X 3,330,215 7/1967 Yamane 418/227 3,672,797 6/1972 Gerlach et a1. 418/125 1,279,913 9/1918 Roberts 418/227 X 1/1967 Yamamoto et al. 418/142 X 9/1942 Cochran 418/227 X Primary Examiner-Carlton R. Croyle Assistant ExaminerMichael Koczo, Jr. Att0rneyEmory L. Groff et a].

[5 7 ABSTRACT I A rotary power device embodies a main rotor body which contains a plurality of smaller gear driven rotor elements which revolve with the main rotor body and also revolve relative thereto. Motivating energy for the device is derived in the form of an expanding gas from an external source. A refrigerant type gas or a gaseous product of external combustion may be utilized. Lubricating oil is added to the gas. The device is reversible.

13 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PAIENIED'SEP 3.755.755

SHEET 2 BF 3 ROTARY POWER DEVICE Among the objects of this invention is to provide a rotary power device which is efficient and silent with relatively few working parts, self-contained and fully lubricated. The device may be operated with a heated expanding gas, such as a refrigerant gas with oil added, or could be operated from an external combustion source by a variety of fuels. When a refrigerant-type gas is employed, the heated expanding gas enters the power chambers of the device from a heated source and after energy is utilized to drive the rotor, the gas is exhausted into a condenser and-when cooled and condensed is delivered back to the heater where it is heated and expanded for reuse. By means of a simple control valve, the power device can be reversed.

Further advantages of this form of device are that it can be made in various sizes for more or less power. Substantially instant power is available without an in termediate transmission between the device and the output shaft and reversing gears are not required. These and other advantages of the invention will become apparent to .those skilled in the art during the course of the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the intake and exhaust system of the rotary power device and the associated motive gas delivery and recycling system with reversing valve.

' FIG. 2 is a central vertical longitudinal section through the power device.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing the main rotor body and the internal rotor elements in a first operating position.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are similar cross sections showing the main rotor body and rotor elements in subsequent operating positions within the power chambers of a rotor housing or stator.

FIG. 6 is a transverse vertical section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the power device, with some parts omitted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals designate like parts, the numeral 10 designates a front cover plate having a central hub 11 forming a support bearing for a power output shaft 12. The output shaft 12 is formed rigidly with an outside rotor plate 13 arranged in abutting face-to-face relationship with one end of a main cylindrical rotor body '14 having a plurality of circumferentially equidistantly spaced cylindrical pockets or compartments 15 of equal ,size which open through the periphery of the main'rotor body in the form of equal width and equally spaced parallel edge slots 16. The compartments 15 also open through both opposite end faces of the main rotor body 14, FIG. 7.

An inside rotor plate 17 abuts the inside face of main rotor body-l4 and the two plates 13 and 17 are fixedly secured to the rotor body 14 to form therewith a rotor. unit by means of screws 18 or the like. An annular rotor housing or stator 19 surrounds the rotor composed of the elements l3, l4 and 17, FIG. 2, and this stator'is bolted rigidly at 20 to the front cover plate 10 by an anstator 19 is bolted as at 21 to a fixed gear housing 22, to be described in further detail.

The stator 19 is provided with a plurality of equally sized and circumferentially equidistantly spaced shallow arcuate power chambers 23 in surrounding relationship to the peripheral face of the main rotor body 14, which peripheral face effectively forms the interior walls of the arcuate power chambers 23. The side walls of these chambers are formed by inwardly projecting annular flanges 24 on the stator 19. The several compartments 15 communicate through their slots 16 with the power chambers 23 in succession during rotation. At the ends of the several power chambers 23, the surrounding wall of stator 19 carries seals 25 which contact the periphery of main rotor body 14 and maintain the several power chambers 23 separated. As will be seen, the seals 25 are one of several sets of seals employed inthe device at critical points.

Inlet and exhaust gas ports 26 and 27 are formed radially through the stator near the ends of the power chambers 23, as shown. Rotatably mounted within each compartment 15 is a generally triangular relatively small rotor element or head 28 each having a radially projecting seal 29 at each of its three corners. The seals 29 continuously wipe the cylindrical walls of the compartments l5 and the arcuate surfaces of power chambers 23, as best shown in FIGS. 3 through 5. Additional seals 30 are provided on the opposite end faces of each rotor element 28 connecting the three corners thereof, and these seals wipe the interior faces of the rotor plates 13 and 17 during operation of the device. Still another set of sealing rings 31 are provided in the bores of the annular flanges 24 of stator 19 where these flanges oppose the rotating peripheral faces of the rotor plates 13 and 17. v

The previously-mentioned gear housing 22 contains a central fixed gear 32 havinga supporting shaft'33 which projectsinto a journal recess 34 in the adjacent end face of main rotor body 14. This forms a bearing support for the rotor body near the center of the power device. The rearward end of the shaft 33 is rigidly coupled to the end wall 35 of housing 22 by a nut 36 or like means. Within the housing 22 in surrounding orbiting relationship to the fixed center gear 32 are additional gears 37 corresponding in number to the compartments 15 and rotor elements 28. The gears 32 and 37 are in constant mesh. Each gear 37 has a forwardly projecting shaft 38, FIG. 7, including a threaded portion 39 and a slightly reduced diameter end cylindrical extension" 40. The shafts 38 extend through bores 41 in the rotor elements 28 and are keyed therein. Locking nuts 42 engage the threaded portions 39 of shafts 38 and are engaged within recesses 43 in the forward ends of rotor elements 28 when assembled with the shafts 38. The opposite ends of the elements 28 engagenarroW-shouh ders 44,on the shafts 38 immediately ahead of bearing shaft extension 40 is similarly journaled in one opening 47'of rotor end plate 13.

nular group of bolts. Similarly, the opposite end of the I FIG. 1 .shows schematically a gas heater 48 of any conventional type from which expanding gas, such as arefrigerant type gas, passes to a reversing valve 49.

From this valve, the expanding hot gas is delivered through a line 50 to the several inlet ports 26, as shown in the diagram. From the several exhaust ports 27, the spent exhaust gas from the device is delivered through a line 51 back to the reversing valve 49 and then to a condenser 52. From this condenser, the cooled and condensed gas is delivered through a line 53 to a gear pump 53a and from this pump into the gear housing 22 for lubricating purposes. Upon leaving the gear housing 22 through a suitable port, FIG. 1, the condensed gas passes through another line 54 and one-way check valve 55 back to the gas heater 48 where the cycle starts over and repeats itself. Reversal of the rotary power unit without reverse gears is obtained merely by shifting the valve 49 ninety degrees clockwise from the position shown in FIG. 1 so that the heated gas will be delivered to the ports 27 and will be exhausted from the ports 26 after driving the rotor structure in the opposite direction.

The operation of the device may be summarized as follows with particular reference to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. The heated gas enters the three power chambers 23 simultaneously through the inlet ports 26 and pushes the rotor elements 28. In order to move with the main rotor body 14, the rotor elements 28 with their attached gears 37 must revolve on their individual shaft axes and travel around the central fixed gear 32. When this action occurs, the main rotor body 14 will rotate in the same direction, see the arrows in FIG. 3. The rotor elements 28, as they turn, exhaust the expanded gas left by the previous rotor element. Such exhaust gas exits through one of the ports 27 and is delivered to the condenser 52 as previously described, and is then pumped back to the heater 48 so that the power cycle can repeat.

Referring to FIG. 3, the rotor elements designated C, D and A are all being pushed in the direction indicated by the pressurized gas behind them in chambers 23. Rotor B is just beginning to enter a power chamber 23 and as it passes beyond the adjacent inlet port 26, it will be pushed circumferentially of the stator 19. Rotor E in FIG. 3 is idle.

In FIG. 4, rotors E, B and D are being pushed and rotor A has reached the idle position. The rotary action will continue as long as pressurized gas is delivered to the ports 26. The unit will rotate and the output shaft 12 is utilized to operate any desired device. The power unit is self-cleaning and will continually exhaust the energy spent gas through the ports 27 for recycling in the manner shown and described in connection with FIG. 1.

FIG. shows still another phase in the cycle of operation of the device where the rotor elements A, C, D and E are all active or being pushed by gas and only the rotor element B is in the inactive idle position. FIG. 5 also shows howthe stationary seals 25 wipe the sides of the rotor elements 28 during idle. Also the seals 29 of rotor elements 28 do not touch the stationaryseals 25 as they are always inside of one lip of a chamber on the rotor body 14 at the moment of passing a stationary seal, see the rotor element B in FIG. 3, for example, about to pass the adjacent stationary seal 25.

The gear ratio shown in the drawings is 1:1 in that the rotor elements 28 make one complete revolution for each revolution of the main rotor body 14. This ratio need not be fixed and may be varied under the invention. Neither do the rotor elements 28 of necessity have to be three-sided; they could be two or three sided. Likewise, the power chambers 23 can be decreased or increased in number within the scope of the invention. The illustrated embodiment merely shows one preferred arrangement.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A rotary power unit comprising a stator housing including a main side wall, said side wall having circumferentially spaced pairs of gas inlet and exhaust ports therein and a corresponding number of internal circumferentially extending power chambers, each power chamber tapering toward its end and each communicating near its ends with one inlet and one exhaust port, a main rotor body journaled within the stator housing and having plural circumferentially spaced cylindrical compartments formed through its opposite end faces on axes parallel to the rotational axis of the rotor body, said compartments opening through the periphery of the rotor body so as to communicate with said power chambers, a corresponding number of multi-cornered rotor elements journaled for rotation in said compartments and constructed and arranged so that during rotation of the elements successive corners thereof will emerge from the compartments and project radially into the power chambers whereby the rotor elements will be pushed by gas in the power chambers, a gear unit coupled to the stator housing and containing a center fixed gear and a plurality of gears surrounding the fixed gear in circumferentially spaced relation and in mesh therewith, said surrounding gears corresponding in number to said rotor elements, one of said surrounding gears being secured fixedly to each rotor element to form therewith a driving rotary assembly, a work output rotary shaft coupled to said main rotor body, a gear housing secured fixedly to the end of the stator housing which is remote from said work output rotary shaft, a center shaft carrying said center fixed gear, said shaft coupled rigidly to said gear housing and including a forward extension, said main rotor body having a center recess rotatably receiving said shaft forward extension.

2. The structure of claim 1 and said stator housing comprising an annular body having end flanges which extend radially inwardly of the main side wall of said body to define the opposing side walls of said powerchambers, said power chambers being crescent-shaped and being recessed into said main side wall, said side wall defining the exterior surfaces of said chambers and the cylindrical periphery of said main rotor body defining the interior surfaces of said chambers.

3. The structure of claim 2, and stationary seals'a'nchored to said main side wall of said annular body at,

6. The structure of claim 1, and the openings in the peripheral surface of the main rotor body formed by said compartments being in the form of slots having straight parallel edges which are parallel to the axes of the cylindrical compartments.

7. The structure of claim 1, and said rotor elements being approximately triangular.

8. The structure of claim 7, and the rotor elements having seals fixed to their apexes and additional seals on their opposite end faces.

9. The structure of claim 8, and said additional seals on the end faces comprising a substantially triangular array of seals joining the apexes of the rotor elements.

10. The structure of claim 1, and a pair of end plates rigidly secured to the opposite end faces of the main rotor body and covering the ends of said cylindrical compartments so as to form the end walls of the compartments.

11. The structure of claim 10, and a pair of ring seals at the peripheries of said end plates and intervened between said peripheries and opposing parts of the surrounding stator housing.

.12. The structure of claim 1 1,.and an end cover plate for the rotor power unit rigidly secured to one end of the stator housing and having a center bearing for said work output rotary shaft.

13. The structure of claim 10, and each said driving rotary assembly including an axial shaft having portions projecting beyond opposite end faces of one of said rotor elements, said projecting portions being journaled within openings provided in said end plates of the main rotor body.

I 0' I I l 

1. A rotary power unit comprising a stator housing including a main side wall, said side wall having circumferentially spaced pairs of gas inlet and exhaust ports therein and a corresponding number of internal circumferentially extending power chambers, each power chamber tapering toward its end and each communicating nEar its ends with one inlet and one exhaust port, a main rotor body journaled within the stator housing and having plural circumferentially spaced cylindrical compartments formed through its opposite end faces on axes parallel to the rotational axis of the rotor body, said compartments opening through the periphery of the rotor body so as to communicate with said power chambers, a corresponding number of multi-cornered rotor elements journaled for rotation in said compartments and constructed and arranged so that during rotation of the elements successive corners thereof will emerge from the compartments and project radially into the power chambers whereby the rotor elements will be pushed by gas in the power chambers, a gear unit coupled to the stator housing and containing a center fixed gear and a plurality of gears surrounding the fixed gear in circumferentially spaced relation and in mesh therewith, said surrounding gears corresponding in number to said rotor elements, one of said surrounding gears being secured fixedly to each rotor element to form therewith a driving rotary assembly, a work output rotary shaft coupled to said main rotor body, a gear housing secured fixedly to the end of the stator housing which is remote from said work output rotary shaft, a center shaft carrying said center fixed gear, said shaft coupled rigidly to said gear housing and including a forward extension, said main rotor body having a center recess rotatably receiving said shaft forward extension.
 2. The structure of claim 1 and said stator housing comprising an annular body having end flanges which extend radially inwardly of the main side wall of said body to define the opposing side walls of said power chambers, said power chambers being crescent-shaped and being recessed into said main side wall, said side wall defining the exterior surfaces of said chambers and the cylindrical periphery of said main rotor body defining the interior surfaces of said chambers.
 3. The structure of claim 2, and stationary seals anchored to said main side wall of said annular body at the ends of the power chambers to separate the power chambers, said seals having sliding contact with the periphery of the main rotor body.
 4. The structure of claim 3, and said multi-cornered rotary elements each being provided at its corners with seals having sliding contact with the walls of said compartments and with the exterior surfaces of the power chambers during rotation of the main rotor body.
 5. The structure of claim 4, and said pairs of gas inlet and exhaust ports being formed radially through said main side wall of said annular body.
 6. The structure of claim 1, and the openings in the peripheral surface of the main rotor body formed by said compartments being in the form of slots having straight parallel edges which are parallel to the axes of the cylindrical compartments.
 7. The structure of claim 1, and said rotor elements being approximately triangular.
 8. The structure of claim 7, and the rotor elements having seals fixed to their apexes and additional seals on their opposite end faces.
 9. The structure of claim 8, and said additional seals on the end faces comprising a substantially triangular array of seals joining the apexes of the rotor elements.
 10. The structure of claim 1, and a pair of end plates rigidly secured to the opposite end faces of the main rotor body and covering the ends of said cylindrical compartments so as to form the end walls of the compartments.
 11. The structure of claim 10, and a pair of ring seals at the peripheries of said end plates and intervened between said peripheries and opposing parts of the surrounding stator housing.
 12. The structure of claim 11, and an end cover plate for the rotor power unit rigidly secured to one end of the stator housing and having a center bearing for said work output rotary shaft.
 13. The structure of claim 10, and each said driving rotary assembly including an axial shaft having portions projecting beyoNd opposite end faces of one of said rotor elements, said projecting portions being journaled within openings provided in said end plates of the main rotor body. 